Balancing complex venue operations, coordinating staff, and managing tight deadlines can be overwhelming.
But how can you calm the chaos?
In this guide, you'll get proven strategies and expert tips for optimizing your event space and keeping your customers coming back. Whether you're dealing with technological issues, staff management, or customer service challenges, we've got you covered.
What is venue management?
Venue management is all about running event spaces like convention centers, restaurants, breweries, and art centers smoothly and efficiently.
Here’s what it involves:
Booking and scheduling: Keeping the event calendar full and organized
Financial management: Watching the budget, tracking expenses, and maximizing revenue
Marketing: Getting the word out to attract potential clients and keep current ones coming back
Rostering: Managing employees’ hours and shift assignments
Event supervision: Making sure each event goes off without a hitch
Administrative tasks: Handling the necessary paperwork and contracts
Maintenance: Keeping the venue in tip-top shape
Human resources: Hiring, training, and managing a great team
At the heart of all this is the venue manager — the person who makes sure everything runs like clockwork. They juggle communications with clients, vendors, contractors, and their own team so each event is a success.
What are some common frustrations venue managers and owners deal with?
Running a venue is no easy task, and if you're trying to grow it and increase your revenue at the same time, you know the challenges firsthand. From tech glitches and staffing headaches to customer service hiccups, it can feel like you're constantly putting out fires.
Here are some of the issues venue managers and owners regularly face:
Technological issues with event management software
Managing a venue can be a headache if your venue management software is too complex for staff to use efficiently or lacks essential features. Outdated hardware that struggles to keep up with modern demands only adds to the frustration.
Poor Wi-Fi coverage can disrupt ticketing systems, point-of-sale transactions, and staff communication, causing unwelcome chaos. And when these types of issues come up, not having reliable technical support can leave you in a bind.
Not only that, but frequent, disruptive software updates that require downtime and retraining can feel like an unending obstacle course.
On top of all this, a lack of proper backup systems puts you at risk of losing critical data if your hardware fails. Addressing these issues is crucial to keeping your venue running smoothly and efficiently.
Lack of event professionals or improperly trained staff
Running a venue is challenging when you're short on staff or your team isn't properly trained. Poorly trained staff may be less capable of handling unexpected issues or high-pressure situations, which can lead to frequent disruptions and a near-constant need for hiring and training new employees.
When staff lack the necessary skills for specific tasks, inefficiencies and mistakes are inevitable. Inconsistent service quality due to varying levels of staff competence and training further complicates matters.
Managing staff schedules can also be a nightmare, leading to understaffed shifts and burnout.
To make things even more difficult, budget constraints and high turnover rates can result in overworked employees who struggle to keep up.
Customer service issues
Customer service issues can greatly impact the success of your venue. Long wait times and poor communication with event attendees often result in frustration and dissatisfaction.
Unaddressed complaints turn into negative reviews and a reduction in return business. Plus, operational inefficiencies can leave both event staff and attendees unhappy.
Event guests may feel undervalued if you fail to personalize their experience, and missed opportunities to resolve customer service issues on-site can result in long-term dissatisfaction.
Resolving these customer service challenges as soon as you see them is crucial to providing a positive and memorable experience for everyone involved.
Logistical issues
Logistical problems can really throw a wrench in your plans. Without a streamlined process, managing tasks becomes chaotic, and mistakes are more likely to happen.
Poor communication between management, staff, and clients only makes things worse, with tracking staff clock-ins and scheduling accurately becoming a constant struggle.
Important information often gets lost when it's scattered in notebooks and personal apps instead of being in one place. Approvals can be delayed when you're on the go. Too many calendars with vital event details and meetings create confusion. And poorly managed guest lists and RSVPs lead to avoidable errors.
Tackling these logistical challenges is key to running smooth and successful events.
While these issues can be overwhelming, don't worry — knowing these common frustrations is the first step toward solutions to them that work.
10 venue management tips for ensuring your guests get the most out of your event space
Running a venue and making sure your guests always have a fantastic experience at the events they attend is no small feat. It takes a blend of strategic planning, clear communication, and a focus on customer satisfaction.
Here are some practical tips to help you optimize your event space and boost your management skills:
Use the right software
Imagine this: Your software is so complicated to use that your staff struggles with it, which leads to constant errors and slow service. An outdated or ad-hoc system can't keep up with the demands of a busy event, causing delays.
On top of these issues, weak Wi-Fi coverage disrupts everything from ticketing systems to point-of-sale transactions, leaving both your staff and guests frustrated.
Clearly, dealing with bad tech is a nightmare for venue managers.
Fortunately, investing in the right software can streamline operations and enhance communication between management, staff, and clients.
Lark Suite offers a comprehensive set of tools designed to improve efficiency in all aspects of venue management. With it, you can:
Facilitate effective communication between management, staff, and clients with Lark Messenger and Lark Meetings to keep everyone on the same page
Simplify the attendance process and reduce administrative overhead with Lark’s Smart Attendance App, which tracks when staff clock in and out
Create, store, and share important files with Lark Docs so that you can handle contracts, staff training documents, and event schedules effortlessly and in one place
Streamline the approval process with Lark Approval, which makes it easy to submit and process approvals related to events and client contracts while on the go
Stay on top of important events and dates with Lark Calendar
Plus, manage your guest lists and real-time check-ins with Lark Base and automated workflows. Your event planners can upload guest lists and automatically update an events-task force group chat with all of the attendees’ details as they check-in, keeping everyone informed minute-by-minute.
Appoint an event liaison or concierge
With no one addressing attendees’ needs at an event, things can quickly spiral out of control. Feelings of neglect and unmet expectations lead to unhappy clients and guests.
Appoint a liaison or concierge to make sure everything runs smoothly and everyone has a positive experience at each event.
This individual can handle various administrative tasks, provide you with real-time feedback on the event, and gauge the attendees’ feelings so that you can meet their needs and encourage repeat business.
Develop and maintain strong relationships
As a venue manager, strong relationships with suppliers and event planners are essential. Without them, securing repeat bookings and valuable collaborations is a struggle.
Focus on the following:
Building relationships with event planners and offering them incentives like discounts or exclusive access
Partnering with local businesses for catering and entertainment services to boost cross-promotion
Establishing trust with reliable vendors and contractors to ensure consistent quality
Negotiating favorable contract terms for all parties involved
Tracking vendor performance to make sure supplies are of the highest quality
Choose vendors you can rely on to deliver every time to make your guests’ special events successful and stress-free.
Prioritize staff training and development
Well-trained staff are key to a successful event. Without them, your team faces avoidable problems that can lead to inefficiencies and a poor guest experience.
Make sure your team is prepared and confident by:
Regularly training them in exceptional customer service, event management, and new technologies
Encouraging them to take ownership of their roles to boost their job satisfaction and performance
Creating a supportive and appreciative work environment to reduce turnover and build a strong, cohesive team
Making it easy for them to manage their work with streamlined duty roster software — no more losing track of different shifts!
Plus, you can maintain your oversight with direct-to-your-dashboard employee tracking.
Optimize venue layout and design
Poorly planned spaces can lead to crowded areas, bad sightlines, and uncomfortable seating, ruining the guest experience. An outdated or poorly maintained event venue also leaves a bad impression, making it harder to get repeat bookings.
To optimize your venue for events clients will love, you should:
Regularly update the layout for optimal functionality and looks
Invest in high-quality furniture, lighting, and décor
Make sure the venue can quickly adapt to different event types and sizes
Arrange the layout in a way that lets staff move around easily
Keep toilets away from seating areas
These changes will give your guests a more enjoyable and impressive environment.
Stay ahead of trends in the events industry
If you don't keep up with industry trends, your venue can quickly become outdated and uncompetitive. Clients want the latest and best experiences for their events, and if you can't offer that, they'll go elsewhere, leading to fewer bookings and lost revenue.
Keep up with the competition by:
Staying updated on the latest trends and innovations in event management
Asking attendees what they want to see at events and looking at trends from recent celebrity shindigs
Identifying trends among your ideal clients' industries and demographics and advertising your venue accordingly
Attending industry conferences and networking with peers
Continuously seeking new ideas and best practices to improve your venue's offerings
Keeping up with trends also extends to your internal processes, like taking advantage of the latest in rostering software and using smart attendance-tracking systems to streamline events.
Offer comprehensive packages
Clients can feel overwhelmed by all the details involved in planning an event. If your venue doesn’t offer comprehensive packages, they might have to juggle numerous vendors, leading to stress and miscommunication. This makes your venue less appealing than those that offer all-in-one solutions.
Provide comprehensive packages to make the planning process easier for your clients and your venue more convenient and attractive. This boosts the client experience and increases your chances of getting more bookings. Plus, it simplifies things for you.
Consider offering packages that include:
Catering and bar services
Audio-visual equipment and tech support
Decoration and setup services
On-site coordinators and staff
This will attract more clients and make your operations smoother since you won’t have to deal with multiple vendors yourself.
Maintain high standards of customer service
Maintaining high customer service standards is essential for a great guest experience. One bad event can continue to hurt your reputation long after the fact.
Focus on:
Communicating proactively with clients throughout the planning process and addressing any concerns quickly
Paying close attention to detail to make sure every part of the event is carefully planned and executed
Following up after the event to get feedback from attendees and address any issues they experienced to show clients that you value their business and want to improve where you need to
Taking these steps helps to provide guests with an unforgettable experience and keeps them coming back time and time again.
Take feedback seriously
Regularly seek feedback from clients and attendees to identify areas for improvement. Then, use this feedback to:
Make the necessary adjustments to your services and facilities
Train staff on how to better meet client expectations
Enhance the overall guest experience
Streamline task management and make collaboration seamless
Lark's tools can transform how you plan and manage events, making everything run more smoothly.
Here's how:
Lark Base helps you assign and track tasks for your team so that everyone knows their responsibilities and deadlines. This keeps your events on schedule.
With Lark Chat Groups, you can create dedicated chats for specific events or teams, allowing for real-time communication and collaboration.
Lark Video Conferencing lets you host virtual meetings with clients and staff to discuss event details and updates without needing to meet in person. Plus, you can store meeting recordings and notes in Lark Docs, so you always have key information handy.
By leveraging Lark's task management and collaboration tools, you can be sure your team is aligned and working efficiently together — even across teams. Say goodbye to chaos and hello to smooth and successful events.
Level up your venue management with Lark
Say goodbye to inefficient tech and staff stress with an all-in-one platform that streamlines your venue's daily operations and makes handling event schedules, inventory, and team communication effortless.
Lark is designed to maximize your venue's potential, helping you deliver outstanding service and build a reputation that keeps your clients coming back.
Join today and experience the Lark difference.
